Author: bea baldridge
Located in: pueblo west, co
Submitted: September 14, 2015
Tell us a little about yourself. I am an avid student of Gods Word. I grew up in a Christian home, getting saved at age eight. Since that time I have loved reading the Bible, teaching others how to study, and helping others grow in their faith. I taught Sunday School for 29 years and now teach Hebrew and Bible studies in our home. I love word studies in the Bibles original language, which helps one to draw near to the Heart of God and learn the deeper meanings of what God is saying to us. Also, in studying the Hebraic roots of our faith, learning what the words and idioms meant to people at the time the books of the Bible were written and what the customs were at that time gives a different slant on how we look at Gods Word.
What was your motivation behind this project? Meeting people over the years that were confused about what commandments Christians are supposed to follow. Are we lawless? Do we keep the 10 Commandments? Are there commandments for us?
What do you hope folks will gain from this project? To separate God's Moral laws given in the Old Testament and the ones given in the New Testament and compare them. Are they the same? Who are we in Christ?
How were you personally impacted by working on this project? I had had this book in mind for a few years and thought if I was ever to write it, I needed to just do it. It gives me a lot of satisfaction when I look at it, to know how the three years I spent writing it, researching, and drawing near to the Lord was an awesome time with Him, and feeling I was absolutely in obedience.
Who are your influences, sources of inspiration or favorite authors / artists? Pastors I had over the years. When I was growing up, we had a wonderful Baptist church with many "revival" meetings with special characters that would come through. Learning from Ravi Zacharias to face the truth head on, from Jewish Christians who have come along and really taught us how to study, to do slowly through God's Word and not rush, through Jewish Christian writers who have brought out things we as Christians haven't known, my dad, and my favorite pastor of all time, Louie Hootman, who taught me to never be satisfied with less than the fire of God burning in my soul.
Anything else you'd like readers / listeners to know: Never settle for less than that fire of God in your life and soul. Never get mundane about His Word. Always keep that fire burning. As Jeremiah said:
But if I say, I will not mention his word
or speak anymore in his name,
his word is in my heart like a fire,
a fire shut up in my bones.
I am weary of holding it in;
indeed, I cannot.
